And She Dreams She's Dancing
by WizMonCruWil
Summary: It's been a bit since I did a Gilmore Girls fic. But this idea would not leave me alone! It is inspired by the beautiful Rascal Flatts ballad Sarabeth (Skin), as well as a personal experience a loved one went through recently (different type of cancer than depicted here). When Rory gets cancer and undergoes treatment, how will Lorelai and her friends help her? Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1: Fall

**Chapter 1: Fall**

It was a busy Saturday morning at Number 37, Maple Street in Stars Hollow, Connecticut. Rory Gilmore was hoofing through the house, doing chores to help her mother. Lorelai had been called in to work at the Dragonfly Inn on this weekend day. Rory didn't mind the extra duties. At 16, she was adjusting well to Chilton, and had a new boyfriend in Dean Forrester, who had recently moved to the sleepy little town from the Chicago area.

Just then, as Rory was approaching the top landing of the stairs, she paused to adjust the full laundry basket in her arms. Her foot caught, she didn't know on what, and before she knew it, Rory was tumbling down the stairs, landing in a heap at the bottom.

It was a struggle to get to her feet, as she was a bit dazed, and she throbbed over most parts of her body. Rising in front of a wall mirror, something caught Rory's eye in the light, and she twisted, the hem of her tank top shifting up to reveal a ghastly bruise along her back.

Recovering, Rory gathered the spewed clothes and threw them back into the basket, then turned for the landline phone. If anyone had an accident in the house while alone, it was family policy to call the other person immediately. Lorelai's enforcement of the rule had been calmed by hilarious mockery of the LifeAlert commercials, complete with imitations of the phrase, "I've fallen and I can't get up!" Rory chuckled to herself as she dialed the Inn's number.

"Independence Inn, Lorelai speaking."

"Mom?"

"Oh, hey, sweets. What's up?"

"Nothing. I just fell down the stairs while shuttling laundry. I'm up, though."

"Oh my gosh, are you OK?"

"Just a bruise on my back; I'll be fine."

"All right, if you're sure. I'll be home for dinner. I love you."

"Love you too."


	2. Chapter 2: Scared to Death

**Chapter 2: Scared to Death**

Rory bounced her leg nervously as she waited in the doctor's office, flipping through an old magazine. There was an article about J. Lo and some new boyfriend, but she could not focus on the words on the page. Beside her, Lorelai grasped her hand and squeezed it soothingly.

It had been several weeks since that tumble down the stairs. Lorelai had grown concerned when the bruise wouldn't heal on its own in due time. Rory had tried to shrug it off, asking if there was a set timetable for bruises to heal. But after sitting on their hands and waiting for something to happen that ultimately didn't, Lorelai had insisted they see a doctor.

A nurse with a friendly smile now appeared at the door. "Rory Gilmore?"

Rory stood, failing to hide a gulp. When she was a toddler, she had been scared of even the most inconsequential doctor's visits - a passing childhood phase - but this was different. This was something that she could not identify, and she was scared. But she tried to put on a collected face as she followed the nurse back into the nearest patient room, Lorelai following behind her.

"So, we're going to start with some preliminary blood tests, as ordered by Dr. Olila. We'll run them right here, today; should be no more than half an hour. Just to see where we're at," the nurse chirped, her smile clearly now trying to make Rory feel better.

Rory nodded mutely and hopped up onto the examination table. Lorelai took a seat opposite her, in a chair squelched in one corner. In a deeply uncharacteristic display of lethargy, neither Gilmore spoke. The silence remained until the nurse returned with some needles and wipe pads.

Getting shots or blood drawn of any kind had most certainly _not_ been a childhood phase, and Rory turned her face away as the needle was administered, Lorelai singing Happy Birthday as a traditional distraction. Rory felt a simple prick, and then it was over, the nurse whisking the sample away and leaving the patient room in once again eerie silence.

A little more than the estimated half hour passed, until finally, a middle-aged man with glasses and a kind face entered.

"Good afternoon, Gilmores. I'm Dr. Olila, the leading oncologist here. I have just reviewed Rory's blood tests..." His voice trailed off unexpectedly, and clearing his throat, pulled up an empty chair and scooted it close to Rory on the examination table. His expression seemed to indicate a preparation over what he was going to say, one of those _"You'd better sit down,"_ kind of faces, and Lorelai and Rory both tensed.

"Rory..." Olila began slowly. "There's... something not right between your red and white blood cells..."

Lorelai didn't let him finish, clapping a hand over her mouth and choking back a sob that seemed to appear from absolutely nowhere. Rory's eyes snapped to her mother's in distress, and it was obvious that her mother - along with Olila - now knew something that she did not.

"It's breast cancer," Olila explained gently. "But don't worry, we're going to take care of you. There's a new therapy we're going to try, one that estimates a 60% chance of permanent remission. It's just been FDA-approved; it's the strongest treatment yet in existence. And I think we caught it in time. Besides, you're young - _so_ young. The odds of survival are very, _very_ much in your favor."

Despite his calm, soothing words, at the word _'survival,'_ Rory winced. She shouldn't be having to deal with something so life-threatening so young. The worst illness she had heretofore experienced was a bout of the chicken pox when she was eight, and that had merely confined her to bed for a week, and a diet of Luke's mashed potatoes.

"I wish to begin treatment with Rory as soon as possible," Olila turned to Lorelai, his voice now classically clinical, but determined.

"Chemo?" Lorelai whispered through her hands, the tears glistening in her eyes.

"Of course. But don't worry - we discourage all kind of stigma that comes with it. You can't imagine the number of patients I've seen go through it, in my career. There is only love and support here." He shook hands with both the Gilmore girls. "I'll be calling you with a consultation next week, Mrs. Gilmore. Oh, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!"

* * *

The drive back to Stars Hollow was numb. Lorelai couldn't bring herself to turn her head as Rory sobbed quietly in the shotgun seat, focusing on the road as she rubbed a free hand along her daughter's arm. Pulling up to the Crap Shack, Rory got out, pausing when her mother didn't follow out the driver's side.

"Go on in, babe. I gotta check on something." And Lorelai turned the Jeep for the town square.

She pulled up just beside the Gazebo, the yellow coffee cup sign in clear view. She felt like she had to tell someone, or she'd explode. Her parents were high on the list, of course, and they would surely panic, as would Christopher, Rory's father. But there was one person's comfort that she needed right now. One person who had been her strongest confidant for years.

The bell jingled as Lorelai entered Luke's Diner. Luke Danes spotted her from clear across the room, from behind the counter, and snapped to attention with the coffee pot. "Your usual?"

Lorelai shook her head, blinking back tears as she crossed to the counter. "Got anything stronger? Like liquor?"

Luke frowned. OK, something was up. Lorelai never imbibed alcohol, at least not casually, and certainly never in here. Coffee was her addiction, and if she was refusing coffee, even in the unusual circumstance when he offered it up willingly without a witty fight...

Lorelai was nearly at the counter when she swayed, and nearly fell against it as she broke down. Luke gaped as she dropped the coffee pot in the sink and sprang around to her side. "Lorelai?!" he tried to get her off the floor as gently as he could without hurting her.

"Ro... Rory..." Lorelai choked on her sobs.

"Rory? What about Rory? Lorelai, what happened?"

"B... breast cancer!" This came out in a wail, so that everyone in the full Diner heard it. Luke snapped his gaze around to everyone!

"Get out!" he almost yelled at the other customers. "All of you! You're sworn to silence!" He reserved the last for Miss Patty and Babette, and they seemed to have enough sense - and control over their gossipy impulses - to obey.

Luke helped Lorelai onto a stool and took her hand, which she grasped like a lifeline. He didn't ask her to repeat the news, though his head and his heart were drowning in denial, begging that it wasn't so. Rory was still but a babe herself, she hadn't even _lived_ \- how could she have cancer? She'd never hurt anyone.

"Start from the beginning," Luke rumbled low, once Lorelai's sobs had subsided into sniffles.

Lorelai told him everything: how Rory had fallen down the stairs one Saturday several weeks before, and how the bruise had refused to abate. Olila's explanation. The upcoming Chemo treatment.

Luke nodded grimly, even as his heart broke and he possessed the sudden desire to bash a hole through the front diner window. "What do you need?"

Lorelai chuckled bitterly. "Money for chemo. But Mom and Dad are already footing the bill for my kid's education as it is. And who knows how much Christopher can throw down?" She dropped her head to the table, moaning. "We're screwed."

"Oh, no you're not," and Luke whipped out his checkbook. "How much for the first couple rounds?"

Lorelai's eyes went wide. "Luke, no..."

"Yes," he growled firmly. "Lorelai, I feel... responsible for Rory. And I'll be _damned_ straight to hell if she dies on my watch."

Lorelai flinched at the word _'die,'_ even as she eyed the checkbook with a mixture of wariness and hope. "You would do that?"

"For you two - _anything_ ," and there was something in his gaze that Lorelai could not quite describe. It frightened her a little, just as much as it warmed her heart. She choked out another sob, this one now of gratitude.

"I could kiss you right now!"

Luke glanced away, mumbling something about giving him a number, and at Lorelai's prompting, he scribbled the amount down, ripped off the check and handed it to her. "Anything else?" he called to Lorelai's back as she headed for the door.

She turned, and though she was the farthest thing from a religious person, she requested, "Pray, Luke. Just... pray."

And so he did - every night.


	3. Chapter 3: Cruelest of Any Surprise

**Chapter 3: Cruelest of Any Surprise**

Scared to death, Rory sobbed hard and often that night, as she sat on her bed holding her mom. Indicating how her thought process was stumbling around in a fog, she at one point asked:

"D-do you think D-Dean will w-want to still t-take me? T-to the p-prom at Chilton?"

Lorelai blinked in surprise. "Of course he will, sweetie!"

But Rory seemed to know better, adamantly shaking her head through the glistening tears on her cheeks. "He won't want to take a girl with no hair to Chilton's prom! It's fine; I'll just call him and tell him I don't want to go! I won't have to pick up the tickets!" And she reached for the phone.

"Whoa, whoa!" Lorelai stopped her. "First of all, little missy - no one said anything about you going bald. Sure, there might be some... hair loss," and she nearly gagged on the phrase. "But surely all of it won't..." Her voice trailed off, as the next phrase seemed almost unspeakable, like a slur. "And second of all, Dean will not abandon you! He seems like the farthest thing from that kind of guy, and I should know - I dated some when I was your age, even before your dad."

Rory's big, cerulean blue eyes peered at her. "Can we pay for the treatment?" she asked, even as she knew that answer was probably no. For as long as Rory could remember, money in their household had been tight, and she had learned intuitively to never complain when some Christmases were less bountiful than others. Her earliest years in the potting shed had been a roughing-it kind of existence, though she hadn't minded.

Lorelai held her daughter's gaze. "Luke's paying for it," she whispered.

Rory nearly fell off the bed, her irises wide. " _Luke_ is paying for the chemo?"

"Just the first round!" Lorelai clarified quickly. "Until then... I'll think of something." Although she knew that Luke would just as readily take the brunt for the next round... and the one after that... even if he would have to force the checks into her hands. She sighed. "Get some rest, babe." She kissed Rory on the forehead, her lips lingering longer than necessary, and she slipped from the room.

* * *

Rory's scream jerked Lorelai out of a deep sleep one morning a week or so later. Thank heavens it was a Saturday, the Day of Pre-Rest.

Lorelai staggered down the stairs and dashed into her daughter's bedroom, pulling up short when she saw a wailing Rory gathering in her hands what looked like... locks of her hair... off of her pillow.

Lorelai's eyes welled up. So, this was it then. The proof that they couldn't deny. The first session of chemo radiation from the other day had gone well, according to Dr. Olila. Whatever the fuck that meant, for he hadn't elaborated. Lorelai closed her eyes and took a deep breath, wishing she could somehow bear the pain for her daughter instead...


	4. Chapter 4: Skin

**Chapter 4: Skin**

Despite Lorelai's pleas and reassurances, Rory had been adamant that she would not go to the prom with Dean, vowing to spare him the shame of going with his hairless girlfriend. Plus, Rory seemed certain that not everyone in the Chilton student body would be supportive. In going to school - because she had to go - Paris, Madeline and Louise had appeared understanding; indeed, Rory's condition had shaken the sharp-tongued Paris in a way neither Gilmore had seen before.

All the same, Lorelai worked behind-the-scenes to ensure that Rory got this high school experience. Lorelai had never gone to her own prom, though that had been due to a very different set of extenuating circumstances. She didn't want that to also befall her daughter, though admittedly, pregnancy now seemed like a lame excuse to skip out on a pretty dress, when compared to breast cancer. So, Lorelai schemed, working late some nights at her sewing machine. Slipping Dean a $20 bill in the town square along with some printed directions to Chilton. And asking one more, small request from Luke...

* * *

It was quarter to seven, and Rory was sitting on the living room couch in a fancy party dress, still a little confused. It seemed like a waste to be attending some high-society gala for her grandparents on a Friday night, in lieu of their traditional weekly dinner. All the more strange because her mother had suggested it, forgoing even a token attempt to try and bunt out of anything having to do with her parents, as she usually did. But maybe Lorelai was trying to distract her - after all, the Chilton prom was tonight.

All at once, there was a knock at the door, and Lorelai rushed to answer it. Curious, Rory followed.

She gaped when she saw who was on the other side. There was Dean... and Luke!... dressed in tuxedos, complete with white gloves. Dean was holding a pair of tickets in one hand, and a rose in the other. Both wore baseball caps, Luke his signature blue one.

"Dean? Luke? What are you doing here?" Rory gawked.

"I'm your prom date for tonight," Dean beamed. "And Luke here's the driver." He jerked a thumb in Luke's direction, even as Luke scowled, though it was clearly forced.

Rory whirled on her mother. "There is no gala at the country club, is there? You tricked me!" Lorelai grinned impishly in answer.

"There's something else," Luke turned the girls' attention back to them. Then he and Dean locked eyes, slowly counting down.

The caps came off, and Rory's hands flew to her mouth. In the next instant, she and her mother burst into shocked tears, even as Rory tentatively reached out a finger to lightly touch. For this morning, where Dean's hair had been, where Luke's hair had been... softly she touched just... _skin_.

Luke smiled kindly down at the angelic girl whom he loved as a daughter. "My truck's at the curb. Not a limo, exactly, but..."

The wind got knocked out of him as Rory threw her arms around him, and also kissed Dean. "Let's go!"

And so Rory and Dean went dancing, around and around without any cares, and Rory's very first true love held her close.

And for a moment... she wasn't scared.


End file.
